The Best American Short Stories 2012

The author of Little Children and Election (both of which were made into Oscar-nominated films) and, most recently, of The Leftovers, Tom Perrotta edits and introduces this 2012 edition of the first and most prestigious of the Best American collections. Here are Nathan Englander's short story "What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank" and Alice Munro's "Axis," Steven Millhauser's "Miracle Polish" and Mary Gaitskill's "The Other Place," and 16 other pieces published in the previous year—a particularly strong year for the short story, as series editor Heidi Pitlor comments in her foreword. Since its inception in 1915, the Best American series has become the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. For this title, as for each of the others, a series editor reviews hundreds of periodicals, then selects between 50 and 100 outstanding works. The guest editor—a recognized expert in the field—then pares the list down to the 20 or so very best pieces.